Study: Manuka honey kills more bacteria than all available antibiotics

Not all honey is produced equal. While the benefits of raw, unprocessed honey have been well known over the centuries, Australian researchers have discovered one type of honey, called Manuka honey, to be better than all the recognized antibiotics.

Manuka honey is created by bees that forage on the nectar of Leptospermum Scoparium, or New Zealand’s Manuka bush, in addition to tea trees, local to Australia and New Zealand only.

This extraordinary type of honey not only efficiently kills bacteria, but none of the bugs killed by it have been capable to build up immunity. In a world where a lot of the last resort antibiotics are failing against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, Manuka honey may grasp the key to fighting resistance issues, saving millions of lives worldwide.

Manuka honey fights superbugs

Dr. Dee Carter from the University of Sydney’s School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences noted that antibiotics have short shelf lives and also the bacteria they attack rapidly become resistant as well, making them useless over the time.

Study: Manuka honey kills more bacteria than all available antibiotics

The report, available in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, claimed that Manuka honey destroyed roughly every bacteria and pathogen it was tested on. Different all antibiotics obtainable on today’s market, none of the bugs tested were capable to survive the Manuka honey treatment.

According to Dr. Carter, there are exacting compounds, like methylglyoxal, in the Manuka honey that cause a multi-system breakdown in the bacteria, destroying them prior to they are capable to adapt and build up immunity.

What Manuka honey can do for you

Manuka’s biological properties have a wide range, from antioxidant, antibacterial, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and wound healing, to immune-stimulatory. Nevertheless, what divides Manuka honey from the rest is that its antibacterial powers confront even the toughest superbugs, such as the life-threatening methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Manuka honey is marketed for cancer treatment and prevention, chronic inflammation, high cholesterol, diabetes, the treatment of gastrointestinal problems, and eye, ear, and sinus infections. Nonetheless, it might be most helpful in treating skin wounds and leg ulcers.

According to one study, available in the scientific journal Peer J, chronic wounds are becoming a great global health problem, owing to antibiotic resistance issues. They are expensive and tricky to treat, and bacterial biofilms are significant contributors to the holdup in healing. There is an imperative need for new, effective agents in topical wound care, and honey has revealed some huge potential in this regard.

For their study, researchers evaluated Manuka honey in exacting as an alternative treatment for wounds since of its broad-spectrum antibacterial movement and the inability of bacteria to build up resistance to it. Their study indicated that honey might stop bacterial biofilms and get rid of established biofilms. In addition, they stated that Manuka honey could effectively be used to kill all MSSA and MRSA biofilms in a chronic wound, sustaining the use of this type of honey as an effective topical treatment for chronic wound infections.